Waiting for that baby

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And behold, the word of the LORD came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you can number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the LORD and counted it to him as righteousness. (Gen. 15:4–6)

Even though Abram and Sarai cannot have children, God assures Abram that his “very own son” will be his heir. Taking him outside to look at the stars, God promises Abram that his offspring will be equal to their number. The New Testament quotes Abram’s reply four times: “And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness” (Gen. 15:6). 

This verse reveals a key scriptural pattern. God regards Abram as righteous in grace and accepts him because of his faith. Paul agrees: “For by grace you have been saved through faith” (Eph. 2:8).

In the following two verses of Ephesians, Paul says God did not save us because of our works but so that we would perform good works. Again, Abram sets the pattern. First, God counts him righteous based on faith, apart from deeds. Then Abram (renamed Abraham) demonstrates his righteousness by his deeds (see Gen. 22:12). 

It is the same for everyone everywhere. No one earns God’s favour. A right relationship with God is due only to his good will received by faith in the crucified and risen Christ, who loved us and gave himself for us. And those justified by grace through faith are to “be careful to devote themselves to good works” (Titus 3:8).

Abram is also concerned about God’s promise to give him land. Again, God assures him: “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess” (Gen. 15:7). 

God graciously promises and performs a ritual to assure Abram. God predicts something that would occur at least six hundred years later: the Israelites’ oppression in Egypt and the mighty exodus from there to inherit the land of Canaan. Then, while Abram sleeps, the Lord, symbolized by a smoking fire pot and flaming torch, passes between pieces of animals to assure Abram that he will fulfil his promise to give the land to Abram’s descendants.

Although some Christians may be expecting an eternal existence as disembodied spirits in heaven, the Bible teaches something different and much better. Scripture portrays final salvation as a resurrected existence on a new earth underneath a new heaven. 

The land of Canaan, which the Lord promised Abram, was a token or foreshadowing of the new earth. And in fact, that is what Abraham anticipated, for “he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God” (Heb. 11:10). By God’s grace, through faith, we do the same!

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